October 12-14 Dussera Weekend Trip: The Cradle Of Indian Temple Architecture Carved Out By The Chalukyas

Join us for a three-day trip to Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal to explore the great Chalukyan architecture led by an expert.

‘Vatapi Ganapatim Bhajeham...’. there is hardly anyone who wouldn’t have heard this famous composition of Carnatic music by Muthuswami Dikshitar.

The Pallava King, Narsimhavarman I, defeated the Chalukya King Pulakeshi II and captured their capital, Vatapi or Badami, thereby, begetting the title ‘Vatapi Konda’. The Ganapati brought from there is the one worshipped in this recitation.

But before the mighty fall, the glory of the land of the Chalukyas in the Mallaprabha river basin in North Karnataka was unmatched. Around 1,500 years ago, this land was the dream of one of India's greatest emperors - Pulakeshi II, the only one to have beaten Harshavardhana in battle. Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal in Bagalkote district of Karnataka, are remnants of that glorious Chalukya era that ended with the capture of Badami by the Pallavas.

Hundreds of temples that line this region, both the rock-cut cave temples, and the structural ones, serve as the best testimony to what came to be a wholly different style of architecture, the Karnata-Dravida architecture, or the Chalukya architecture and gave the region the title of being the ‘Cradle of Indian temple architecture’.

On our next Swarajya Heritage tour, we will visit all the three major locations of Chalukya architecture - Aihole, Badami and Pattadakal.

Led by Dr Raghavendra Rao H Kulkarni, who is a professor at the Department of Art History at Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath and has worked extensively on Badami Chalukya temples, this trip will revisit the era of the Chalukyas who ‘cut rock like Titans but finished like jewellers’.

Details about the trip and ticket requirements are here.

For more details, write to us at heritage@swarajyamag.com or call us at +91-888-082-0044